"Red Onion"

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"Red Onion"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started with a dry brush approach which I usually do with my other paintings.  Pretty straight forward just drawing the shapes, don't wanna get too detailed with the drawing or it'll take away from the painting.

I filled in the background as soon as the drawing was done, at times I like to paint the object first then the background.  Wanted to have the background a little dramatic with the lighting, just stating the overall colors not going too dark or light in the first phase.  I am also keeping the paints pretty thin at this stage, if you go too thick in the beginning it makes it harder to shift the value and chroma.

After the background is at the middle stage I then move on to the onion, worrying about big forms first then making the shapes turn and having the right chroma and value.  Then I start to add a bit more of the smaller shapes after the bigger shapes are stated.

At this stage it starts getting more meticulous with the smaller shapes or the details.  Remember the details are the supporting casts to the whole picture not the leading role.  I started adding smaller shapes to the wood and also to the onion leafs.

This was the original final painting, then I got a good comment that the background was not good enough which I agreed.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the background and stated the lighter colors in the shadows, also made the lights brighter to give it that dramatic feel.  I also went in and stated the darker darks in the onion and the wood, hope you enjoyed this one!